How do I analyse an unseen poem or passage?

Firstly, read through the poem or passage without writing anything down, and try and identify the main themes of the piece, particularly the ones relevant to the question if the question has referenced themes. Then, read through it again more slowly and underline or highlight any imagery of key words that relate to or emphasise the themes you have identified. In poetry, what is the rhyme scheme, if any, and what do you think the significance of this is? Also think about sentence structure and punctuation. Finally, it may be useful to think about the ending of the piece- whether it is abrupt or conclusive or leaves you on a bit of a cliffhanger. Once you have done this you should have enough information to piece together an answer to the question.

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